# Ron Zacapa Centenario 23



## David_ESM (May 11, 2011)

Brand: Ron Zacapa Centenario 23
Type: Premium - Solera
Price: $40-80 Huge price variation depending on location

I have done a couple of reviews on my favorite every day rums. Knowing I was going to be sitting here working a graveyard shift with nothing to do I grabbed my note book and decided to reminisce and write up a review on a special occasion rum.

Ron Zacapa is a premium rum producer based out of Guatemala. Instead of using sugar cane molasses they start with sugar cane honey which is much lighter and typically not as sweet. The Centenario 23 is a solera rum. Solera is the process in which each year’s barrel is then topped off with the new year’s product.

To define that a little more specifically, when aging a product in a wood barrel you will have product loss through evaporation. At the end of a year they will open the 10 year old barrel, and top it off with the 9 year old barrel. Which is then topped off with the 8 year old barrel, so on and so forth.

At bottling the Centenario is an aged blend of rums between 6 and 23 years old. This blend has received numerous awards and has been rated very highly for years now. Now let’s get on to actually drinking this stuff.

The rum pours in a very dark color. Not a Kraken super spiced rum dark. But a more rich brown that you would expect from liquor that saw some very serious barrel aging time. This also lends to it being quite thick and leaving a lasting film on the glass.

The aroma is pure heaven to a rum enthusiast. It is soft and pleasant. No aggressive liquor aroma that turns your stomach or makes you shiver. I can smell the faint aroma of molasses, a soft vanilla and caramel. You can pick up some subtle fruit in the back. Not a sweet fruit, something acidic but I can’t really decide on what it is. There is of course that familiar oak smell from the barrel aging and a pleasant cooking spice aroma that makes me think of nutmeg.

Now the best part. Drinking. Oh it is so sweet. It immediately will coat the inside of your mouth and provide a lasting, lingering, presence well past swallowing. Honey, brown sugar, chocolate, cherry, vanilla, oak. I can taste them all. Every time I drink this rum I find myself sitting longer between sips and really focusing on all the flavors because there are so many. It is very complex and it has almost zero alcohol burn/after taste. It really is one of the smoothest liquors I have ever had.

If you sat and twisted my arm and forced me to say anything bad about this rum, it would be that the lengthy barrel aging process adds just a slight oak bitterness that doesn’t directly agree with how sweet this liquor is. However, it never detracts from the pleasure I derive from drinking this rum.

Unlike many whiskeys I don’t find that adding any water helps or opens up any unlocked profiles in this drink. And it is already so smooth that cooling the drink with ice or diluting it is completely un-necessary to ease its consumption. If you like your rum cool just refrigerate the bottle. This stuff is perfect as is. And don’t you dare even think about mixing this with Coke or anything else or I will beat you.

If this rum was more affordable I would drink it with reckless abandon and much more frequently. I cannot recommend it highly enough for anyone who is looking for a quality sipping rum. I do not see much reason for buying rums above this bottle. The law of diminishing returns immediately kicks in and I can’t see myself spending $300 on a bottle of rum to just be a tiny bit better than this one. There is a reason I selected this specific liquor to share with my groomsmen on my wedding day. It is that good.


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## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

Great Rum i like it much better than Havana Club great review thanks for taking the time!


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## huskers (Oct 2, 2012)

A rum I have been meaning to buy for a while now...............maybe next trip


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## David_ESM (May 11, 2011)

huskers said:


> A rum I have been meaning to buy for a while now...............maybe next trip


Rum snob that hasn't tried the Centenario?


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## Pianoman178 (Oct 16, 2011)

David_ESM said:


> If this rum was more affordable I would drink it with reckless abandon and much more frequently.


Best line from a booze review ever.

Can't wait to get my hands on a bottle of this stuff. Might ask for it for Christmas 

Great review, David.


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## Scott W. (Jul 10, 2008)

This is my favorite rum hands down. I remember when it was 30 bucks a bottle by me


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## David_ESM (May 11, 2011)

scottw said:


> This is my favorite rum hands down. I remember when it was 30 bucks a bottle by me


Should have stocked up. If I saw it at that price I might have to buy a case...


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## Breezy818 (Oct 1, 2012)

I can't find this anywhere near me. I'll keep searching. Hopefully my bottle of Zaya can hold me over til then.


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## Oldmso54 (Jul 31, 2010)

Not a rum drinker per se but I do like something smooth that can be sipped without adding anything. So off I go now to search for this Ron Zacapa Centenario 23 
at a decent price.... la enabler-ario...

Great review BTW - you got an on/off rum drinker to go looking for rum - :ask:


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## Scott W. (Jul 10, 2008)

David_ESM said:


> Should have stocked up. If I saw it at that price I might have to buy a case...


I did....12 bottles of anything is not enough for me to be stocked up......I wish


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## smokin3000gt (Apr 25, 2012)

David, great review man. Yet another rum I have to try now. I've seen the zaya but not this at the liquor store. How does the centenario compare to the zaya?


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## leatherman (Oct 23, 2012)

Best rum out there, especially for the price!! I have tried many rums that run over $100 and most dont compare to Zacapa!! If only I could get my hands on a bottle of the XO


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## orion1 (Sep 18, 2012)

I've been drinking Zacapa 23 for two years now. I met Mr Zacapa on a trip to Guatemala. It is simply delicious. I have tried XO and can't tell the difference thus I would not spent the extra $$.


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